You may never have heard of her, but Bela Bajaria, 40, is the secret force behind your DVR list: As the newly anointed president of Universal Television production studio, she's been responsible for female-favorite shows like Parks and Recreation, The Mindy Project, and my personal 2015 obsession, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. (Her team earned 41 Emmy nominations this year—respect!—and hits in the making like Emerald City and Superstore are on the horizon.) But she didn't grow up as Hollywood royalty: Bajaria, who moved to this country at age eight, learned about hard work and commitment by watching her parents run a successful car-wash business. She's also a former Miss India Worldwide (more on that in a sec), a mother of three, and possibly the only Hollywood exec you'll see rocking a sari on the red carpet. In other words: awesome. Listen in.

Cindi Leive: We have to start with your beauty queen title! How'd that come to be?

Bela Bajaria: I was 19. I was trying to make sense of being proud of my heritage while assimilating in America. My family said, "You should do this. You'd meet Indian girls from all over the world." [The pageant] made me embrace Indian culture on my terms. People were surprised that I won—but I think I did well because there were no stakes in it for me. I was confident because I didn't have my identity riding on it.

CL: They say you always ace the job interview for the job you don't want.

BB: Yeah, I wasn't gonna be crushed if I didn't win. But it was a great experience. It got me in the door [at CBS] because my résumé was interesting. And when people asked why I felt I could go into the entertainment business as an Indian, I was like, "'Cause I just did all these other things."

CL: Did people really ask that?

BB: All the time. Entertainment is not really the job that a first-generation [immigrant] goes into; you kinda go doctor, lawyer, engineer, something stable and secure. Luckily, [my parents] were supportive.

CL: Speaking of your parents: What did you learn about success from watching them start their car-wash business?

BB: Everything. It was the late seventies, and it was the American dream. To watch my parents come to L.A. when they didn't know anybody in America, build their first car wash from scratch, and eventually bring the rest of my family over—it taught me an amazing work ethic. Everybody in my family owns their own business—gas stations, car washes. When you have a family business, you're all in it, right? When I hired everybody [here], I said, "I have to run this studio like it's [my] own company."

CL: How do you do things differently when you're thinking of it as your business?

BB: I want people who work here to be happy and inspired. The "Oh, it's somebody else's money, somebody else's problem" attitude is different than "This is my business; I'm responsible for it." You're just so much more invested in it.

CL: You had a very fast rise at CBS—were there promotions along the way you had to aggressively go after and ask for?

BB: Yeah, every one of them! [Laughs.] I had to prove I deserved it.

CL: In her new book, Mindy Kaling talks about how encouraging you were to her. How can a young woman find a mentor?

BB: I did a lot as an assistant where nobody was actually helping me; I just used the process and access: "I'm gonna learn from you even if you don't think you're teaching me; I'm going to be a sponge." When I first got here, I called Ron Meyer [vice chairman of NBCUniversal] and said, "I would love to have lunch." He said, "Let's meet next week." You have to just pick up the phone and reach out.

CL: I know you met your husband on the job. Any Dos & Don'ts for office dating?

BB: It was probably not the most professional thing I've done! But it happens. The key was not to let the personal interfere. As a young woman pursuing a career, I felt it was important to be judged by my work.

CL: You say that one reason you did so well in the Miss India competition was that your identity wasn't wrapped up in it. How much of your identity is wrapped up in this job?

BB: This is my car wash!... But you have to have perspective. I love my job—I spend a lot of time doing it. But it's not my identity. I have a family and a life outside work, and that's who I am. This is what I do.